National Blog

Is Bob Dylan a supply-sider?

Maybe not, but the legendary singer-songwriter sort of sounds like one in this interview with the AARP magazine (hat/ tip: Rolling Stone):

"The government's not going to create jobs," he said. "It doesn't have to. People have to create jobs, and these big billionaires are the ones who can do it."

But instead of doing that, he said he sees inner cities festering with crime and people "turning to alcohol and drugs." "They could all have work created for them by all these hotshot billionaires," Dylan said. "For sure, that would create lot of happiness. Now, I'm not saying they have to — I'm not talking about communism — but what do they do with their money?"

He later turned his attention back to the underprivileged. "There are good people there, but they've been oppressed by lack of work," Dylan said. "Those people can all be working at something. These multibillionaires can create industries right here in America. But no one can tell them what to do. God's got to lead them."

Dylan is onto something,but what he misses is that one reason the "multibilionaires" are not investing in new job creation is because of government taxes and regulations.

Of course, if the roadblocks to entrepreneurship imposed by all levels of government were eliminated, lower-income people would not have to wait for a multibillionare to create a business in their neighborhood-- instead lower-income residents could start their own business. A great step toward eliminating barriers to entrepreneurship among low-income people would be to eliminate occupational licensing.